Published 20:05 IST, August 16th 2019
India already on Moon: Bodhi tree leaf aboard Israeli spacecraft believed to have survived crash-landing
According to international news reports, a leaf from the ancient Bodhi Tree under which Lord Buddha is believed to have attained Nirvana was aboard the Israeli spacecraft 'Beresheet' which crash into the moon after failing to land on the lunar surface on April 11
While Chandrayaan 2 is set to land on the South Pole of the Moon on 20 August 2019, recent international reports have discovered that a part of India is already on the moon!
According to international news reports, a leaf from the ancient Bodhi Tree under which Lord Buddha is believed to have attained Nirvana was aboard the Israeli spacecraft 'Beresheet' which crash into the moon after failing to land on the lunar surface on April 11.
What is Beresheet?
The first privately-funded spacecraft to the Moon - Beresheet was launched on February 21 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral. The project cost US$100 million.
Reports also state that Beresheet was carrying a digital 'Lunar Library' containing numerous relics from Earth from the US-based nonprofit Arch Mission Foundation in an attempt to create “a backup of planet Earth.”
The relics included over 30 million pages of data archive of human history and civilization the Wearable Rosetta disc, the PanLex database, the Torah, children's drawings, a children's book inspired by the space launch, memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, Israel's national anthem, the Israeli flag, and a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and dehydrated tardigrades – water bears.
Apart from these Israeli relics reports have stated that Beresheet carried leaf and some soil from the Bodhi tree, notes on Hindi, Urdu, music, earth from sacred caves in India. It also carried relics from India, China, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, and Tibet.
What happened to relics after the crash?
Being optimistic of the Lunar Library, the Arch Mission Foundation stated on its website:
“It is believed that the Lunar Library survived the crash of Beresheet and is intact on the Moon according to our team of scientific advisors based on imagery data provided by NASA.”
This had made space fans wonder if the Lunar Library survived does it mean 'tardigrades' - the water bears are the first species to live on the moon? But many believe that with no atmosphere or water, there’s practically no chance they could revive themselves out of their dormant dehydrative state.
Updated 20:23 IST, August 16th 2019